Soldering Iron

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

How many watts do you have? And why? I have a 15 Watt/30 Watt (for some decoder wires and other small wire) and an unkown one. What do you use to solder track?
Thanks

2

I have a 15 watt for fine electronic work, a 25 for slightly heavier stuff, a 40 watt to solder feeders to track, and a 100 watt gun to solder the feeder drops to the 12 gauge bus wires.

–Randy

3

I do use a 15/30 watt iron to solder electronics but i use a weller gun for track…the weller heats up quickly and gets real hot so solding track is quick and easy …i use the gun because the track needs to be soldered quickly and the track is a lot thicker than wire, so heating it with a high wattage gun heats the metal faster so the risk of melting ties is minumized…chuck

4

I have a 40 watt Weller iron for small stuff and a 200/260 watt Weller gun for everything else.

Jim

5

Do the tips make a difference? I’ve a round one and I think I have a flat one on another one.

6

Yes, the tips make a difference, if only for how spread out the heat is. My small iron has a very pointy tip - perfect for soldering in confined spaces like installing decoders and soldering PC boards, less change of heating up and bridging solder pads and the like. The flat tips heat a larger area - for larger joints that’s better than the small tip held on longer. And also why a small low watt iron isn;t good for track work - to gt the rail hot enough to solder the feeder you have to hold the small iron onthe joint too long, heating a large area and potentially melting ties (which melt at a lower temp than the solder does). The higher-power iron will transfer heat to the contact point faster, so you can remove the heat quicker so only the actual area you are working gets hot, the rest won’t have time to heat up. Want to an excercise in futility? Try soldering a pair of #12 wires together with a 15 watt soldering iron. It will work - eventually. And the wire for 5 feet in either direction will be too hot to handle. Repeast with a 100 watt or more gun - solders in a few seconds. It’s important to have the correct tool for each job.

–Randy